No longer the most boring planet>>

Bizarre Weather found on Uranus
In 1986 when Voyager passed by Uranus the probes pictures of the planet were notoriously bland and disappointing to scientists giving few new details
of the planet and its atmosphere and giving it a reputation as a bland and boring planet
However
Uranus has Bizarre Weather
Researchers at the Keck Observatory used a new technique to reveal the incredible detail of the bizarre weather of the seventh planet from the sun

The sharpest most detailed picture of Uranus The north pole of Uranus (to the right in the picture) is characterized by a swarm of storm-like
features
Uranus has Massive storms that would engulf continents here on Earth

Here’s the scene: a thick, tempestuous atmosphere with winds blowing at a clip of 900 km/h (560 mph); massive storms that would engulf continents
here on Earth, and temperatures in the -220 C (-360 degree F) range. Sounds like a cold Hell, but this is the picture emerging of the planet Uranus,
revealed in new high-resolution infrared images from the Keck Observatory in Hawaii, exposing in incredible detail the bizarre weather of a planet
that was once thought to be rather placid.

The weather on Uranus changes. So does the weather on Earth. The weather is different at the two polar regions. So is it on Earth. There is no reason
to think that what is being observed now is anything different from what has always happened on Uranus. It has never been observed with such
detail.

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. When looking at the pic on the OP for a moment I thought it was Jupiter. If I am not wrong also weather patterns
of other planets are on the change. Fascinating stuff.

The weather on Uranus changes.. It has never been observed with such detail.

edit on 10/18/2012 by Phage because: (no reason given)

If it has never been seen in such detail, then how do we know that it changes? I mean, sure we can assume that, but as you say without seeing the
planet in this kind of detail, we can not jump to such a conclusion yet. Just because it happens that way on Earth, you can't really use that to
explain what might happen on Uranus.

Thanks for rectifing that error Phage
These images were taken at Keck II which is located on

the summit of Hawaii's 14,000-foot extinct volcano Mauna Kea, to capture a series of images that, when combined, help increase the signal to noise
ratio and thus tease out weather features that are otherwise obscured. In two nights of observing under superb conditions, Sromovsky's group was able
to obtain exposures of the planet that provide a clear view of the planet's cloudy features, including several new to science. The group used two
different filters in an effort to characterize cloud features at different altitudes.

The south pole at Uranus is not in view at the moment but they hoping to see a polar vortex

Saturn's South Pole is characterized by a polar vortex or hurricane surrounded by numerous small cloud features indicative of strong convection,
analogous to the heavily precipitating clouds encircling the eye of terrestrial hurricanes, she notes

Along the lines of what can be seen at Saturns south pole

Perhaps we will also see a vortex at Uranus's pole when it comes into view," she says

I wonder if the increased solar activity is effecting the weather of the planets to cause some of this pehnomena?

What increased solar activity? You mean the approaching solar maximum?
Aside from the fact that solar activity is actually quite low (for how close we are to max) weather isn't really affected much by the solar cycle.
While there has been some note of an apparent correlation with the solar cycle and ENSO (El Nino) events it has been shown that the correlation
"drifts" and is likely a matter of chance.

Caution should be exercised when testing for the statistical significance of the correlation of two autocorrelated time series. The solar peak
years can coincide with cold ENSO by chance, even if the two time series are independent, and the coincidence then persists for many cycles due to
their autocorrelation, before drifting apart. This study demonstrates that this is indeed the case using the Quinn El Niño index (1525–1987), which
is a chronicle of observations of El Niño–related events, and the sunspot number (SSN) series going back to 1750.

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